Download or read book The Cruel Country written by Judith Ortiz Cofer and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Cruel Country is a memoir centered around the author's journey to Puerto Rico after her mother had been diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. The story takes us through Cofer's journey as she sits by the her mother's hospital bed during the last moments of her life, through the grieving process and Catholic funereal rites that follow her mother's death and her return to her life in the U.S. Cofer's writerly talents richly inform this narrative meditation on her family's life in Puerto Rico and the States, her frantic research on cancer, considerations of Catholicism, family, and culture , and much more. The book at the same time is very much a study of cultural differences and the balance that the author must find as a Puerto-Rican American, not wholly part of her mother's culture. We see this come to a head as she communicates with doctors, participates in funeral arrangements and sacraments, and recollects her Anglo husband John's father's death. This very personal story about the author's life will resonate with Cofer's legions of fans including students and those interested in memoir, ethnic and cultural crossings, spirituality, loss, grief, and reconciliation"--

Download or read book The Story of Cruel and Unusual written by Colin Dayan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A searing indictment of the American penal system that finds the roots of the recent prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo in the steady dismantling of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual" punishment. The revelations of prisoner abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib and more recently at Guantánamo were shocking to most Americans. And those who condemned the treatment of prisoners abroad have focused on U.S. military procedures and abuses of executive powers in the war on terror, or, more specifically, on the now-famous White House legal counsel memos on the acceptable limits of torture. But in The Story of Cruel and Unusual, Colin Dayan argues that anyone who has followed U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding the Eighth Amendment prohibition of "cruel and unusual" punishment would recognize the prisoners' treatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo as a natural extension of the language of our courts and practices in U.S. prisons. In fact, it was no coincidence that White House legal counsel referred to a series of Supreme Court decisions in the 1980s and 1990s in making its case for torture.Dayan traces the roots of "acceptable" torture to slave codes of the nineteenth century that deeply embedded the dehumanization of the incarcerated in our legal system. Although the Eighth Amendment was interpreted generously during the prisoners' rights movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, this period of judicial concern was an anomaly. Over the last thirty years, Supreme Court decisions have once again dismantled Eighth Amendment protections and rendered such words as "cruel" and "inhuman" meaningless when applied to conditions of confinement and treatment during detention. Prisoners' actual pain and suffering have been explained away in a rhetorical haze—with rationalizations, for example, that measure cruelty not by the pain or suffering inflicted, but by the intent of the person who inflicted it. The Story of Cruel and Unusual is a stunningly original work of legal scholarship, and a searing indictment of the U.S. penal system.

Download or read book Mundo Cruel written by Luis Negron and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Luis Negrón’s debut collection reveals the intimate world of a small community in Puerto Rico joined together by its transgressive sexuality. The writing straddles the shifting line between pure, unadorned storytelling and satire, exploring the sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking nature of survival in a decidedly cruel world.

Download or read book Beautifully Cruel written by J. T. Geissinger and published by JT Geissinger Incorporated. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alpha (noun): 1) Having the highest rank in a dominance hierarchy 2) The most powerful man in a group3) Liam Black He was a stranger to me, a dark and dangerous presence who materialized from the shadows one rainy night to save me from a vicious attack. I didn't know his name or where he was from. All I knew was that the only place I'd ever felt safe was in his arms. But safety is an illusion. And not every savior is a hero. And-as I'd soon find out-having an alpha save your life comes with a price. Liam Black wanted something from me in return.

Download or read book Kind of Cruel written by Sophie Hannah and published by Penguin Canada. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If you ask someone for a memory and they tell you a story, they're lying." When Amber Hewerdine consults a hypnotherapist as a desperate last resort, she doesn't expect that anything much will change. She doesn't expect it to help with her chronic insomnia. She doesn't expect to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words that mean nothing to her—kind, cruel, kind of cruel—words she has seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where. And she doesn't expect to be arrested two hours later as a result of having spoken those words out loud in connection with the brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she's never heard of.

Download or read book Beautifully Cruel written by M. William Phelps and published by Pinnacle Books. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling true crime author investigates a shocking case of a wife, mother, and murder in the Iowa suburbs. Iowa housewife Tracey Pittman Roberts seemed to have it all: natural beauty, three loving children, and a fairy tale second marriage to a wealthy businessman. But beneath the happy façade was a woman who used lies, manipulation, sex, ugly allegations, blackmail—and even murder—to serve her own selfish ends. On December 13, 2001, police rushed to Tracey’s home after a shooting left her young neighbor dead. Tracey claimed it was an act of self-defense. Nine gunshot wounds—and a decades-long trail of extortion, fabrication, fraud, and intimidation—said otherwise. Ten years after the crime, Tracey’s case finally went to trial in an explosive courtroom showdown. In a searing exploration of the criminal mind, acclaimed investigative journalist M. William Phelps traces the saga of a psychopath who hid in plain sight—until her wicked ways caught up with her. “Phelps is one of America’s finest true-crime authors.” —Vincent Bugliosi “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan

Download or read book Cruel Optimism written by Lauren Berlant and published by Duke University Press Books. This book was released on 2011-10-27 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of the good life—with its promises of upward mobility, job security, political and social equality, and durable intimacy—despite evidence that liberal-capitalist societies can no longer be counted on to provide opportunities for individuals to make their lives “add up to something.” Arguing that the historical present is perceived affectively before it is understood in any other way, Berlant traces affective and aesthetic responses to the dramas of adjustment that unfold amid talk of precarity, contingency, and crisis. She suggests that our stretched-out present is characterized by new modes of temporality, and she explains why trauma theory—with its focus on reactions to the exceptional event that shatters the ordinary—is not useful for understanding the ways that people adjust over time, once crisis itself has become ordinary. Cruel Optimism is a remarkable affective history of the present.

Download or read book Cruel Paradise written by J. T. Geissinger and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anti-hero (noun): 1) A powerful and charismatic man lacking moral character 2) A magnificent bastard 3) Killian Black You don't know me. You think you do, but you don't. The only thing you know is my name, and even that's a lie. I'm king of Boston, lord of criminals, ruler of an underworld empire.Or am I? Only one thing's for sure: I operate alone. Until I cross paths with a brazen little thief who sets my whole kingdom on fire. Just as two wrongs don't make a right, two villains don't belong together. Especially since she's the daughter of my most deadly enemy. Taking her would start a war. Keeping her would be suicide. Making her mine would break every code of honor and defy all common sense. Then again, where's the fun in following the rules?

Download or read book A Beautiful Cruel Country written by Eva Antonia Wilbur-Cruce and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2016-05-26 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arizona's Arivaca Valley lies only a short distance from the Mexican border and is a rugged land in which to put down stakes. When Arizona Territory was America's last frontier, this area was homesteaded by Anglo and Mexican settlers alike, who often displaced the Indian population that had lived there for centuries. This frontier way of life, which prevailed as recently as the beginning of the twentieth century, is now recollected in vivid detail by an octogenarian who spent her girlhood in this beautiful, cruel country. Eva Antonia Wilbur inherited a unique affinity for the land. Granddaughter of a Harvard-educated physician who came to the Territory in the 1860s, she was the firstborn child of a Mexican mother and Anglo father who instilled in her an appreciation for both cultures. Little Toña learned firsthand the responsibilities of ranching—an education usually reserved for boys—and also experienced the racial hostility that occurred during those final years before the Tohono O'odham were confined to a reservation. Begun as a reminiscence to tell younger family members about their "rawhide tough and lonely" life at the turn of the century, Mrs. Wilbur-Cruce's book is rich with imagery and dialogue that brings the Arivaca area to life. Her story is built around the annual cycle of ranch life—its spring and fall round-ups, planting and harvesting—and features a cavalcade of border characters, anecdotes about folk medicine, and recollections of events that were most meaningful in a young girl's life. Her account constitutes a valuable primary source from a region about which nothing similar has been previously published, while the richness of her story creates a work of literature that will appeal to readers of all ages.

Download or read book Cruel Death written by M. William Phelps and published by Pinnacle Books. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true-crime story of a homicidal husband and wife and a double murder in a Maryland resort town, by the bestselling author of Deadly Secrets. It was Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer season. Thousands headed to Ocean City, Maryland, to enjoy its scenic beaches, lively boardwalk, and trendy nightclubs. Among the bright-spirited vacationers was a couple with a much darker idea of fun. Erica Sifrit, a former honor student, was packing a gun in her Coach bag. Her husband, B.J., an ex-Navy SEAL, was trained in violence. What started as a chance encounter with another couple ended with two dismembered victims buried in a Delaware landfill. M. William Phelps updates this modern-day “Bonnie and Clyde” saga to create a haunting account of money, madness, sex, and murder . . . Praise for New York Times bestselling author M. William Phelps “One of America's finest true-crime writers.” —Vincent Bugliosi, New York Times bestselling author of Helter Skelter “Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers.” —Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of Tell No Lies Includes sixteen pages of dramatic photos

Download or read book Cruel Money written by K.A. Linde and published by K.A. Linde Inc.. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Cruel and Unusual written by Anne-Marie Cusac and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The statistics are startling. Since 1973, America’s imprisonment rate has multiplied over five times to become the highest in the world. More than two million inmates reside in state and federal prisons. What does this say about our attitudes toward criminals and punishment? What does it say about us? This book explores the cultural evolution of punishment practices in the United States. Anne-Marie Cusac first looks at punishment in the nation’s early days, when Americans repudiated Old World cruelty toward criminals and emphasized rehabilitation over retribution. This attitude persisted for some 200 years, but in recent decades we have abandoned it, Cusac shows. She discusses the dramatic rise in the use of torture and restraint, corporal and capital punishment, and punitive physical pain. And she links this new climate of punishment to shifts in other aspects of American culture, including changes in dominant religious beliefs, child-rearing practices, politics, television shows, movies, and more. America now punishes harder and longer and with methods we would have rejected as cruel and unusual not long ago. These changes are profound, their impact affects all our lives, and we have yet to understand the full consequences.

Download or read book Unusually Cruel written by Marc Morjé Howard and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States incarcerates far more people than any other country in the world, at rates 7-10 times higher than other liberal democracies. Indeed, while the US holds only about 5 percent of the world's population, it contains nearly 25 percent of its prisoners. At every stage of thecriminal justice process - including plea bargaining, sentencing, prison conditions, rehabilitation, parole, and societal reentry - the US has harsher and more punitive practices than other comparable countries. Media headlines allude to the "radically humane" prisons of Europe, sometimes presentingthem as too soft on crime. But when lower rates of incarceration and better prison conditions often correlate with lower costs, increased public safety, and more successful rehabilitation, why do prisons in the US remain so punitive?In Unusually Cruel, Marc Morje Howard argues that the United States' prison system is exceptional - in a truly shameful way. Although other scholars have focused on the internal dynamics that have produced this massive carceral system, Howard provides the first sustained comparative analysis thatshows just how far the US prison system lies outside of the norm of established democracies. The book compares the US to other advanced industrialized democracies, with particular focus on the three comparative cases of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.Although Unusually Cruel paints a grim picture of the American system, it also provides a hopeful message. Howard identifies practical and proven solutions from other countries that are less punitive and more productive, as well as models that could help the US get out of its criminal justicequagmire.

Download or read book Cruel Justice written by Joe Domanick and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an award-winning journalist comes an investigative look, through the stories of people on both sides of the law, at the development and impact of the three strikes legislation in California.

Download or read book Goodbye Cruel World written by Book Blocks and published by Collector's Library. This book was released on 2004 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde/Have mercy on my soul, Lord God, As I would do/ If I were God/ And ye were Martin Elginbroddeis is one of the most famous of all epitaphs and comes from Edinburgh. This book contains many others, some pompous, some sad, some downright funny and some ambiguous such as this gravestone in Liverpool which declares Here lyeth Sarah Young who went to sleep with Christ 6th January 1741 or that of her namesake the Mormon leader and polygamist, Brigham Young, whose gravestone reads Brigham Young. Born on this spot 1801. A man of much courage and equipment.

Download or read book Fortune Favors the Cruel written by Kel Carpenter and published by Kel Carpenter. This book was released on 2019-05-17 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throne of Glass meets Black Jewels in this twisted yet alluring dark fantasy tale. Quinn Darkova, freed from the chains of slavery, wants nothing more than vengeance against those who sold her. But with her dark powers on the rise and her ascension nearing, Quinn's blood retribution will have to wait in favor of her immediate survival. Lazarus Fierté is a nobleman without equal. He's as controlling as he is stubborn, and for the last six years he's been waiting for a woman to appear-but not just any woman. A Maji of great power, capable of terrible things. She could be the key to everything he holds dear. His savior ... or his destroyer. The only thing he didn't predict was that she would become both.

Download or read book Cruel written by Trisha Wolfe and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-21 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From USA Today bestselling author Trisha Wolfe comes a new dark psychological thriller.I was born a psychopath. But he made me a killer.Revenge is a lucrative business, and for Blakely Vaughn, it's more than just profitable, it's fun-until it becomes personal. As a biomedical scientist, Dr. Alex Chambers has devoted his life to the study of curing diseases. When he loses someone close to him to an act of violence, he vows to cure the illness he believes is at fault. Blakely and Alex collide on a path of immeasurable ruin. A quest to avenge a loved one sparks a dark and deadly obsession, where a dangerous union of cruel minds raises the question: How far is too far?